The Houston Texans now are climbing a steep hill in the AFC and they sit at 6-6,
but they can’t be eliminated from the playoff race in Week 14. Here are the
reasons:

If the Texans lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers this week, they will fall to 6-7
and the best possible record would be 9-7. In that case, the Texans' record in
the AFC would be 6-6.

Now in the conference, the Denver Broncos hold the sixth and final playoff spot.
If the Brncons win this weekend, they will rise to 9-4. If they lost the last
three games, they would fall to 9-7 and their AFC record would be just like
Houston, 6-6. From there, the two teams would move to record vs. common
opponents.

Both the Texans and the Broncos face the four teams - the Raiders, Patriots,
Bengals, and Jaguars. Houston is 3-2 in those games while Denver would be 2-3 in
the given scenario after losing to two of those teams over the last three weeks.
That gives the Texans the tiebreaker.